Reviews By Stephane Petit-Clerc

In the world of videogames there is but one Holy Grail that all developers search and strive for tirelessly; Balance. Good videogames are all about the fine tuning of balance: challenge versus fun, unit strength versus weakness, kick versus punch versus block, simulation versus arcade, speed versus excitement and so on and so forth. Read More.

There comes a time in every person's life when he or she questions his own sanity in relation to the masses. This may be a very subtle self-exercise but it does happen. Case in point: Pauly Shore makes a movie that grosses over ten bucks. This will undoubtedly make you stop (quite literally) and wonder: "Is Pauly Shore REALLY a comedic genius and I just don't get it? Read More.

Not many people can tell you what they did last week or let alone last year, but I can tell you with great assurance that I spent most of my nights in 2001 playing Phantasy Star Online on Sega's Dreamcast. At the time, and this isn't very long ago, I was still on dial-up, hoping that the keyboard I'd ordered online would show up already and was having the time of my life. Read More.

I remember when adventure gaming simply involved rescuing my friends in Maniac Mansion or helping Guybrush Threepwood on Monkey Island (and romance Elaine Marley at the same time). Wow, how times have changed. As most of us have matured, so have our adventure games. Read More.

What can be said about San Andreas that hasn't been said before? It's expansive, varied, vulgar, defining, addictive and able to impress even the harshest of critics. What Rockstar has been able to do with this series, time and time again, it's simply mind-boggling. Read More.

In the world of videogames there is but one Holy Grail that all developers search and strive for tirelessly; balance. Good games are all about the fine tuning of balance: challenge versus fun, unit strength versus weakness, kick, punch, or block, simulation versus arcade, speed versus excitement and so. Read More.

On October 25, 2004 I spent my evening waiting in line with many other avid gamers for 7 o'clock to roll by and my local EB Games to begin selling Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas for the PS2. It was an eye-opening experience for me. You'd have thought that Elvis himself was back from the dead for another comeback tour. Read More.

As true as the Madden Curse is a reality, I believe that the Xbox is also cursed with the inability to simply produce a competent wrestling game. Adding fuel to the fire, why does THQ insist on allowing other companies to attempt making WWE games for the Xbox when Yuke's has already perfected the art on the PS2? Read More.

In the history of the world, there is perhaps only the Holy Grail that has been more analyzed, more speculated upon, more written about and more hotly debated than Area 51 itself. And as with the Grail, we are nowhere near closer to the truth. This is perhaps the reason for our continued fascination with these subjects. Read More.

It would have been easy, and completely expected, for Epic Games and Midway to simply port Unreal Tournament 2004 to the Xbox. Unreal Championship, the original, had been a port and so had Unreal II: The Awakening. And although both those games felt rushed and lackluster on console, Unreal Tournament 2004 is one of the greatest multiplayer games of all times on the PC. Read More.

DOOM 3 is a game full of contradictions. For every one thing it does a certain way, it seems to do another in the completely opposite direction. One step forward, one step back. Steady as she goes. Status Quo on all fronts. Does this make it a bad game? Absolutely not. Read More.

The Fast and the Furious may have popularized the sub-culture itself and forever ingrained it into our psyches, but street racing (the lifestyle, the video games and even the culture) was alive and well long before Vin Diesel ever drove a Supra on the silver screen. Read More.

BioWare. The name alone commands respect among gaming circles. Few companies have been able to develop quality game after quality game, always giving rabid fans what they want, but also revolutionizing and innovating, in leaps and bounds, how games are played and how they are perceived in our culture. Read More.

Necessity may very well be the mother of all invention, but sometimes, nothing beats a little craziness to infuse the process. A long time ago, in this very galaxy, a man looked at the egg (possibly still under a chicken at the time) and decided to steal it, cook it up and yes, eat it. Read More.

Something is not quite right at Leafmore High. Awful screams are being heard. Students are disappearing. Teachers may suspect something but do nothing. Other students, obviously suffering from MTV attention span disorder, don't seem to notice either. Then, after basketball practice one night, Kenny Matthews goes missing. Read More.